erected during the violence of party rage, and in the first transports of resentment, by parents who had lost an only son. The parsonage house, built of wood, appears to be very ancient, and is surrounded by a moat, over which are four bridges. Near the Elephant and Castle in this parish, is a conventicle on the front of which is inscribed, in large letters, THE HOUSE OF GOD. The congregation, by which it is frequented, profess not to differ from the church of England, except in their confident belief of the near approach of the end of the world. The inner walls of the building are covered with paintings, the subjects of which, says Lysons, are the dreams of the artist, who was a member of this congregation.* In this parish is a Charity School, in which thirty boys and twenty girls are clothed and educated by subscription. The school-house was built in 1775, at the sole expense of Mr. James Tracey. That for the Sunday-school was erected by subscription in 1803. The Drapers' Alms-houses, founded in 1651 by John Walter, are also situated in this parish, which has the privilege of appointing six of its own parishioners; the rest being nominated by the Drapers' Company. They receive monthly five shillings each, and half a chaldron of coals, to which the parish officers add a weekly pension as they see fit. Stow relates that on the 30th September 1575, there was so great a flood at Newington, that the people could not pass from the church on foot, but were obliged to be conveyed in boats to the pinfold near St. George's in Southwark. BERMONDSEY borders to the west on the parishes of St. John, St. George, and St. Olave, Southwark; and to the west on those of Deptford and Rotherhithe. In this parish the business of tanning is carried on to a greater extent than in any other part of the kingdom; and here are also many wool-staplers, fell-mongers, curriers, leather-dressers, and parchment-makers. water-side is occupied to a considerable extent, by various trades connected with shipping, all of which have been great sufferers Environs of London, I. 298. The by by the removal of traffic, in consequence of the opening of the new docks. At a place denominated the Neckinger was, for some time, carried on a manufacture of paper from straw; but the undertaking did not succeed, and the premises are now a manufactory of Morocco leather. Here, in 1082, was founded a priory for monks of the Cluniac order, by Aylwin Child, a citizen of London; and William Rufus gave his manor of Bermondsey to this convent. It was originally a cell to that of La Charité, in France, and seized, among other alien priories, by Edward III. in 1371. A few years afterwards, it was restored to its privileges by Richard II. and made an abbey in 1399, by Pope Boniface IX. At the dissolution, in 1538, its annual revenues were valued at 4741. 148. 44d. In this abbey died Catharine, queen of Henry V. January 3, 1436-7; and in 1486, Elizabeth, queen of Edward IV. was sentenced by an order of council to forfeit all her lands and goods, and to be confined in this place, where she soon afterwards ended her life. The site of the abbey was granted by Henry VIII. to Sir Thomas Pope, who pulled down the church, and built a large house on the spot, which afterwards became the property and residence of the Earls of Sussex. Another considerable part of the site was sold to the last abbot, who had been elevated to the see of St. Asaph; and, having passed through several hands, is now the property of James Riley, Esq. whose mansion is denominated the Abbey House. In the garden belonging to it, he has erected an Egyptian pyramid, on which has been placed a Saxon cross, formerly fixed in the wall on the south side of the abbey gate-way. This gate-way, together with some old buildings towards the east, consisting partly of brick, and partly of timber, intermixed with lath and plaster, was standing a few years since, and commonly called St. John's Palace, on no better foundation than many other traditions, ascribing ancient edifices to that monarch. These, which apparently formed part of the convent, or its appurtenances, were pulled down, together with the gateway, in 1807, for the purpose of making a new street. The Church at this place, mentioned in Domesday Survey, ! 72 was doubtless the conventual church, then newly built; for it was not till long afterwards that the monks founded a parochial church here, and dedicated it to St. Mary Magdalen. The present structure was erected in 1680: it is of brick, and consists of a chancel, nave, two aisles, and a transept. At the west end is a low square tower with a turret. It contains no monuments worthy of particular notice. In the parish register the following very singular entry occurs in the year 1604. "The forme of a solemne vowe made betwixt a man and his wife, having bene longe absent, through which occasion the woman being maried to another man, tooke her again as followeth : "The Man's Speach: "Elizabeth, my beloved wife, I am right sorie that I have so longe absented mysealfe from thee, whereby thou shouldest be occasioned to take another man to be thy husband, therefore I do now vowe and promise, in the sight of God and this companie, to take thee againe as mine owne; and will not only forgive thee but also dwell with thee, and do all other duties unto thee, as I promised at our marriage. "The Woman's Speach : Raphe, my beloved husband, I am right sorie that I have in thy absence taken another man to be my husband; but here, before God and this companie, I do renounce and forsake him, and do promise to keep mysealfe only unto thee duringe life, and to performe all duties which I first promised unto thee in our marriage." Then follows a short prayer; and the entry concludes thus : "The first day of August, 1604, Raphe Goodchild, of the parish of Barkinge in Thames-street, and Elizabeth his wife, were agreed to live together, and thereupon gave their hands one to another, making either of them a solemne vow so to doe in the presence of us, William Stere, Parson. The The following entry is also remarkable : "James Herriott, Esq. and Elizabeth Josey, Gent. were married Jan. 4, 1624-5. N. B. This James Herriott was one of the forty children of his father, a Scotchman." In this parish is a Free School, founded with the sum of 7001 bequeathed for that purpose by Mr. Josiah Bacon, who also endowed it with 150l. per annum, for the education of not more than sixty, or fewer than forty, boys. The master receives 801. per annum, the usher 501. and the remainder is appropriated to repairs. Here is also a Charity School, established by the joint contributions of various persons, and towards which, in 1755, Mr. Nathaniel Smith bequeathed 401. per annum. It affords education to fifty boys and thirty girls. A well-known place of entertainment in this parish was called the Bermondsey Spa, from some water of a chalybeate nature discovered there about 1770. The late Mr. Thomas Keyse had a few years before opened his premises as a place for tea-drinking, and exhibited a collection of the productions of his own pencil, which, as the works of a self-taught artist, possessed considerable merit. About 1780 he procured a licence for musical entertainments, after the manner of Vauxhall, and for several years his gardens were open every evening in the summer season. Fire-works were occasionally exhibited; and a few times in the course of the year an excellent representation of the siege of Gibraltar, consisting of fire-works and transparencies, the whole contrived by the proprietor of the gardens, who possessed considerable mechanical abilities. The height of the rock was about fifty feet, the length 200, and the whole apparatus covered about four acres. Mr. Keyse died in 1800, when his pictures were sold by auction. The gardens were shut up about the year 1805, and the site has since been built upon.* Eastward of Bermondsey, on the banks of the Thames, is ROTHERHITHE, commonly called Redriff. Lysons derives its name from the Saxon words rother, a sailor, and hyth, a haven, or wharf: but in the Magna Britannia it is said to signify Red Rose Haven, which interpretation seems to be supported by the vulgar appellation. * Lysons' Environs of London, Vol. I. p. 54. name The Church, dedicated to St. Mary, was built chiefly by the voluntary subscriptions of the inhabitants in 1714 and 1715; but the tower was not finished till 1739. It is of brick, with stone quoins, and consists of a nave, chancel, and two aisles, supported by pillars of the Ionic order. The tower is surmounted by a stone spire raised upon Corinthian columns. The only monument worthy of particular notice is that of the interesting Prince Lee Boo, who fell a victim to the small-pox at the house of Captain Wilson in Paradise-row. He was interred in the church-yard here, and on his tomb is this inscription: "To the memory of PRINCE LEE BOO, a native of the Pelew, or Palas Islands, and son to Abba Thulle, Rupack, or king of the island Goo-roo-raa, who departed this life on the 27th of December, 1784, aged twenty years, this stone is inscribed by the Honourable East-India Company, as a testimony of the humane and kind treatment afforded by his father to the crew of their ship the Antelope, Captain Wilson, which was wrecked off that island in the night of the 9th of August, 1783. "Stop, reader, stop, let Nature claim a tear, A Free School was founded in this parish in 1613, by Peter Hills and Robert Bell, Esqs, and endowed with a small annual income, for the education of eight sons of seamen. These children are now clothed as well as educated. With this institution the Charity School, established in 1743, has been consolidated; and the permanent income arising from numerous benefactions, and aided by the subscriptions of the inhabitants, now suffice to clothe and educate forty boys, exclusively of the eight on the • Magna Britannia, V. 343. old |